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38 REPTILIA. FAMILY IV. GECKOTIDA. This family is composed of nocturnal lizards which are so similar that they may be left in one genus. GEcKo, Daud.-AsKALAROTEs, Cuv.-STELLIO, Schn.(l) The Geckos are Saurians which do not possess the elongated graceful form of those of which we have hitherto spoken, but on the contrary are flattened, the head particularly. Their feet are mode­rate, and the toes almost equal; their gait is a heavy kind of crawl­ing; very large eyes, whose pupil becomes narrowed at the ap­proach of light, like that of a cat, render them nocturnal animals, which secrete themselves during the day in dark places. Their very short eye-lids are completely withdrawn between the eye and the orbit, which gives them a different aspect from other Saurians. Their tongue is fleshy and non-extensible; their tympanum some­what sunk; their jaws every where furnished with a range of very small closely-joined teeth; their palate without teeth; their skin is studded above with very small granular scales, among which are often found larger tubercles, and beneath, covered with scales some· what smaller, which are flat and imbricated. Some species have the femoral pores. There are circular plaits on the tail as on that of an Anolis, but when broken, it grows without these folds, and even (where there are any naturally) without tubercles; circum­stances which have led to an undue multiplication of species. This genus is ..tumerous and disseminated throughout the warm portions of both continents. The melancholy and heavy air of the Gecko superadded to a certain resemblance it bears to the Salaman­der and the Toad, have rendered it the object of hatred, and caused it to be considered as venomous, but of this there is no real proof. The toes of most of them are widened along the whole or part of their length, and furnished beneath with regular plaits of skin, which enable them to adhere so closely, that they are sometimes seen crawling along ceilings. Their nails are variously retractile, and preserve their point and edge, which, conjointly with their eyes, au· (1) Geclco, a name given to a species in India, in imitation of its cry, just as ano­ther one is termed Tockaie at Siam, and a third Geitje at the Cape; a!tl'«).ct.· ,,.7,", the Greek name of the Geckotte, Lacep. SAURIA. 39 thorize us to say, that the Gecko, as compared to other Saurians, is what the c_ats are to the Carnivorous Mammalia; but these nails vary accordmg to the species, and in some are entirely wanting. In the first and most numerous division of the Geckos which 1 will call the ' PLA TYDACTYLI, The toes are widened throughout, and covered beneath with trans­verse scales. Some have n~ vestig~ of a nail, and their thumbs are very small. They are beautiful spec1es, completely covered with tubercles and painted with the most lively colours. Those known are fro~ the Isle of France. In others, the femoral pores are deficient.( 1) One of them, G. inunguis, Cuv. is violet above white beneath ~ith a black line on the flank. Another, G. :cellatus, Oppel: Is grey, completely covered with ocellated brown spots with a white centre. In some again these pores are very strongly marked.(2) Such is the Geclw cepedien, Peron, of the Isle of France; pale yellow marbled with blue; a white line along each flank. ' I am not sure, however, that the pores in this first subgenus are not sexual indications. Other Platydactyli have no nail to their thumb, nor to the second and fifth. toes of all the feet; the femoral pores are also deficient.(3) Such 1s, Gecko fascicularis, Daud. Lacert. facetanua, Aldrov. 654, Ta­rente of Provence; Tarentola, or rather Terrentola of the Ita­lians; Stellio of the ancient Latins; Geckotte, Lacep. A dark g~ey; rough head; the whole upper surface of the body studded With tubercles, each of which consists of three or four smaller ones; the scales on the under part of the tail similar to those on the belly. It is a hideous animal, which hides in holes of walls, heaps of stones, &c., covering its body with dust and filth. The same species appears to ex.ist every where about the Mediterra­nean, and in Provence and Languedoc. There is a neighbouring species in Egypt and in Barbary, (1) M .. Gray appropriates the name ofPlatydactylus to this division. (2) ~t ~s from this division that M. Gray has made his genus Phelauma. the La-t cerh ta gzet.Je of Sparm. should belong to it. They are considered very ven~mous at ec~~ ' (3) This division forms the genus TARENTOLA. of Gray. \